Why Gen Z is obsessed with the Marilyn Monroe effect – and believes it’s the key to gaining confidence and improving your appearance
- Content creator Mikaela Wilson, from Canada, took to TikTok to explore the term
- The 21-year-old opened up about her own experience before revealing how to emulate her
- And other social media users were quick to praise Mikaela’s advice
The Marilyn Monroe Effect has captivated Generation Z in recent weeks who say it’s the key to gaining confidence and boosting your looks.
Canada’s Mikaela Wilson took to TikTok to explore the term which was originally coined by Amy Greene – the blonde bombshell photographer’s wife.
The 21-year-old, who is a content creator and psychology student, opened up about her own experience of the Marilyn Effect before telling her followers how they too can emulate her.
And other social media users were quick to praise Mikaela’s advice before sharing their own success stories.
Canada’s Mikaela Wilson took to TikTok to explore the Marilyn Monroe effect that has captivated Gen Z in recent weeks
The term was coined by Amy Greene who was the wife of the blonde bombshell photographer
In the clip, which has so far been viewed more than 1.3 million times, Mikaela speaks directly to the camera as she gets ready.
She begins: “If you haven’t heard of the Marilyn Monroe effect, you need to listen.
“I first learned about this in one of my psychology classes, and what it is is a psychological phenomenon that explains how Marilyn Monroe grew from Norma Jeane Mortenson, who was only an ordinary person, to become Marilyn Monroe and to be recognized on the streets, while changing the way he behaves.
“She could walk around wearing the exact same thing and go shopping completely unnoticed or she could turn on her Marilyn persona and people would approach her, people would recognize her and she was suddenly in the limelight, a star.
“Psychologists constantly use this to explain to their patients that confidence is really about how you carry yourself, and being attractive is really just about your body language.”
Mikaela continues: “I was really struggling to have confidence in myself and to love myself, then I tried to apply the Marilyn effect in my everyday life and I noticed that it really changed the how people responded to me and, therefore, how I felt about myself.
‘These are the ways I did it – smile more and be warm, be friendly, be really nice to people, have good posture, sit up straight, stand up straight, carry yourself with confidence, look people in the eyes, shake their hand, introduce yourself when you meet them.
‘If you’re lost on this, just try to imagine yourself as if you’re writing a book and you’re the character – except the character is the light-up version of you – your Norma Jeane’s Marilyn Monroe.’
Mikaela said the psychological phenomenon explains how the iconic star went from Norma Jeane Mortenson to Marilyn Monroe
Other social media users were quick to praise Mikaela’s advice and share their own success stories.
She concludes, “Identify this character, then emulate it when you don’t feel confident enough to be yourself.”
Dozens of other social media users were quick to flood the comments with praise before sharing their own success stories.
One wrote: “I’ve mimicked this aura now and it’s changed exactly how people perceive me. This is 100% correct.’
Another added: “Love the way you explained it, so precise.”
And a third simply said, “That’s so true.”
